British Superstitions and the Bluesby Max Haymes(converted to web format from the original
old frayed typescript by Alan White)

Chapter I - Conjurers and
Hoodoos

Although it is generally known that witches existed, (or at least people
were persecuted and murdered because they were thought to be witches)
from the later medieval period onwards in the British Isles, it is not
so well known (if at all) that their practices, spells and rituals would
be adopted, and adapted by black slaves, and later freedmen, in the
19th. century and the twentieth in the U.S.A. Some of these rituals,
etc. were to be found. in references in the record­ings of the Blues,
which commenced in 1920. The latter, it is generally accepted, being
already over thirty years old (as a recognisable form) at the time of
that first recording.

Nearly 400 years ago, in Lancashire "two children and five women in the
household of Nicholas Starkie, of Clayworth, were possessed in 1594. The
children were the first to suffer, and a conjurer named Hartley was
called in."(1). Appar­ently, after Hartley had been in the house for a
while, the women also became possessed and it was alleged that it was
the conjurer himself who was the cause of the trouble, because every
time he kissed someone he breathed the Devil into them! Hole tells us
"He was finally convicted of witchcraft, and hanged,"(2). Over 250 years
later, the conjurer or conjure of black society in slavery times in the
U.S. had more specific powers and rarely suffered the same fate as
Hartley. One slave tale began "Once der was a ole man dat was a conjeror,
an' his wife was a witch; an' dey had a son, an' dey larnt him to be a
conjeror too; an' every night dey used to get out of deir skins an' go
ride deir neighbors."(3). The tale goes on to describe how they
subsequently rode their overseer, his son, their prize bull and a
bull-yearling, as well a destroying their crops. This might go on all
night long and in the morning the overseer and his son would be feeling
tired "an' know dat de witches been ridin' 'em, but dey never find out
what witches it was." (4) It was widely believed in Britain, in the 19th
century, that witches rode other articles besides broomsticks; such as
ladders, hurdles, and even "trund­lin' on a common grindstone!"(5).

Witches in the British Isles "... often had great powers over horses.
Heanley once attended the death-bed of a Lincolnshire wagoner, who told
him that in his youth he had insulted his landlady, Mary Atkins. She
told him he would be sorry when he get to the top of Cowbank. As soon as
he got there, his horses stopped, sweating and trembling, and nothing he
could do would induce them to go on. He was forced at last to return and
beg the woman to take the charm off', which she did after due apologies
had been rendered."(6). Wagoners/waggoners were themselves supposed to
have links with the supernatural. In Lincolnshire "The horsemen of this
county were formerly supposed to have magical powers over their beasts,
and to be able to stop them in mid-gallop by a single word."(7). Hole
adds that "It
is possible this had something to do with the mysterious society known
as the Brotherhood of the Horseman's Word which was said to possess acharm by
which any member could control the wildest horse."(8). This same charm
could also be used to irritate a horse and the reputation of the
waggoners spread far beyond the confines of Lincolnshire; their powers
becoming more and more diversified.

After describing the healing powers, in dealing with diseased cattle, of
a conjuror called Meredith, a wagonner from the Welsh border country,
Ron Mills adds a warning "But if this chap didn't like anybody--if he'd
fell out with 'em--he could go up to their place and stand about the
gate or look around there, and he could put things to 'go th' opposite
way'. Perhaps he'd LOOK at a cow or summ'at and you'd find that cow
dead."(9). Meredith wasn't "the only conjuror about here: there was old
Enoch from Bourhrood, too".(10). In I870, a white American stated his
view of black citizens "... there is a belief in a certain affinity and
secret communications between themselves and wild and domestic animals.
Many persons have observed a negro's way of talking to his dog or to a
horse. "Aunt Bet" will say as she is milking, "Stan' aroun' now, you
hussy, you. You want to git you foot in de piggin', do you?" and the cow
with careful tread and stepping high will assume a more favorable
position."(11).

In the nineteenth
century there were people "...who were regarded with
deeper awe and dread: those known as 'conjurers', cunning men',
'charmers'. These men, whose reputations sometimes spread for many
miles, were chiefly consulted for their powers of healing specialised
diseases, discovering thieves, and count-acting witches spells"(12). But
some obviously dealt in black magic as well, some were alleged to be
able to raise the Devil. In the 1880's for example, Nich­olas Johnson
and "old Jenkyns of Trellock" (13), would make the Devil appear as a
little grey old man or in more conventional form "with hoofs, horns,
tail and clinking chains."(14). Another conjurer, a "long-ago vicar... "
(15) from Radnor­shire, had a book of spells with which he directed evil
spirits, for his own sec­ular gain.

In 1871, we learn from Rev. Francis Kilvert's diary that a conjurer
called James Jones the Jockey used a ritual which smacked very much of
hoodoo in the Deep South in the earlier part of the present century.
Jones, in an endeavor to retrieve some linen stolen from his wife, put a
live toad in a ball of clay and threw it in boiling water or on to a
fire! "... during the process of boiling or baking the toad was expected
to scratch the name of the thief on a piece of paper put into the clay
ball along with him. (15). Witches were well known to keep an­imal
familiars including toads and cats. The waggoners also used toads. In
East Anglia, traces of the old magic had been found, and there "horsemen
often belonged to small secret societies devoted to horse-magic or at
least shared the same ritual­istic practices. Their awesome initiation
required them to go to running water at midnight, at full moon, to
perform a rite with a frog or toad bone which, ground to powder and
mixed with 'dragon's blood' (a code name for a substance attractive to
horses, unconnected with the resin of the "Dracaena draco" tree), would
give a man complete control over a horse."(16).
These unpleasant rituals are invoked in a similar one enacted by
work­ing-class blacks in parts of Louisiana and Alabama when acquiring
the Black Cat Bone. As Paul Oliver put it "...the strongest charm to
bring back the wayward lover..."(17). Oliver goes on to describe how "A
black cat was captured in the dark after a heavy fall of rain--"(18),
and eventually thrown into a pot "three times cursed as it screamed in
agony"(19). The pot was full of boiling water and after the cat's demise
"At midnight the remains of the cat were drawn from the boiling water
and its bones passed through the mouth until one was found which tasted
bitter--the Black Cat's
Bone(20). A Georgian black in the late 1930's confirms the tale: "I
ketched a big black cat. Den I made a big fyuh in duh yand an put on a
pot uh watuh an let it come tuh a bile. Den I tied duh black cat up an
rut im in duh watuh alibe an put a weight obuh duh pot tuh keep im in
and uh let im bile to pieces. Den I strains duh stoo an separate duh
bones an I shut muh eyes an pull duh bones tru muh mouf till uh got duh
right one."(21). Powerful though this charm might be, it could not get
you out of jail; as "Barefoot Bill from Alabama" sadly states:

"I'm sittin' here in
prison with my Black Cat Bone,Lord, sittin' here in prison, with my Black Cat Bone.I want to speak to all you bad fellers, that you are in the wrong."
(22).

Even when put to its main use of bringing home a lover, the singer
expresses an element of doubt in its power, or perhaps he was being
realistic:

"Might get a Black
Cat Bone, gonna bring my baby back home, Might get a Black Cat Bone, bring my gal back home.Lord, an' if that don't do it, might be one more rounder gone." (23).

The Black Cat Bone
was part of the voodoo cult that originated in Haiti, Cuba and on the
African continent. In the Deer South it became 'hoodoo': But this belief
was not exclusive to West Africa etc., and like other superstitions of
the Blues singer "Many clearly have Anglo-Saxon origins, absorbed from
the culture of the plantation-owners, and the "poor Whites"11.(24).
Although Oliver only lists four examples, in passing,
there were many more links with British superstitions, as will be seen
in Chapter III.

Hoodoo involved, as
well as the popular concept of the wax doll with pins, 'hoodoo doctors',
'root men', conjures, conjure-women, and they all had potions, charms,
roots, etc. which were put to purposes both for good and evil. The
amount of influence from Britain has not been acknowledged, yet there
existed a strong tradition in the 19th. century which has not altogether
disappeared to­day, and quite often parallels the hoodoo cult.

The 'Evil Eye' is a universal aspect of superstition and turns up quite
naturally in Britain. In 1857, in Westwood Common, Shropshire, Nanny
Morgan was "...an unpleasant old woman who in her younger days had been
a thief and had later learned fortune-telling from gypsies; many
consulted her, but she was feared rather than respected and was said to
have the evil eye-- and no one durst refuse her nothing for fear she
should do something at them."(25). Some­time in the 1920's, an old
midwife lived in a village near Ilminster, Somerset, and "...was
supposed to have the Evil Eye, though through no fault of her own, and
people were afraid of offending her".(26). So her services were often
'pre­ferred' to that of the recently appointed district nurse. In 1928,
the Memphis Jug Band recorded "A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake"
referring to the caste-system within black society:

"I wouldn't marry a
black woman, I'll tell you the reason why, I wouldn't marry a black woman, I'll tell you the reason why.
Because black girl evil, she carries a look, an evil eye, an evil eye.
(27).

In Cheshire in 1898,
"a witches power had been broken 'by having her image with nine pins
stuck through it, and the nail out of a horseshoe, also a toad, all put
in a bottle and burned by John, the Wizard of Hale Barns'."(28). In or
around 1936, in Athens, Georgia, a black woman called Nicey Kinney told
Grace McCune "Some old
witch-man conjured me into marrying Jordan Jackson. What's the blessed
truth, honey; a fortuneteller is done told me how it was done. I didn't
want to have nothing to do with Jordan 'cause I knowed he was just a
no-count old drinking man that just wanted my land and stuff. When he
couldn't get me to pay him no heed hisself, he went to a old conjure man
and get him to put a spell on me."(29). This would have been around
1895-1900.

As late as 1970, without much-effort, some charmers were located in
Devon. Working mostly with 'non-herbal cures', often with success, these
charmers are purported to be the seventh son of a seventh son who is
"...widely thought to have healing powers, and charmers and white
witches (pow-wowers in the rural United States) continue active,
especially in the West of England."(30). Blues pianist Willie Mabon
recorded. a "Seventh Son" in 1955 including the claim I can heal the
sick, I can raise the dead"! Blassingame tells us 'Because of their
belief in fortune tellers, witches magic, signs, and conjurers, many of
the slaves constructed a psychological defence against total dependence
on and submission to their masters. Whatever his power the master was a
puny man compared with the supernatural. Often the most powerful and
significant individual on the plantation was the conjurer."(31). For
similar reasons the generation that spawned the early Blues singers
utilised the conjure, the hoodoo man, and the root doctor. In later
years this image would be less revered by more urbanised, sophisticated
singers who used the symbol, as a sexual motif. "Root Man Blues" by
Walter Davis
and "Root Doctor Blues" by Dr. Clayton are a couple of examples. In the
post­war era, Chicago Blues singer Junior Wells would boast that he
could 'out–hoodoo the hoodoo man' on his classic "Hoodoo Man" from
1959.

But in the Southern
states during the first decades of this century, the hoodoo man/root
doctor was someone to be feared and respected in the black community,
and sometimes in the white community as well! The 'doctor' working his
roots would supply powerful charms such as the mojo hand (see Fig. I),
High
John the Conqueror and the Black Cat Bone, amongst many others. These
charms covered all aspects of life; including an insurance against
throwing a losing dice in the eternal crap game:

A woman with similar
powers to the conjurers of the 19th. century Britain, was Aunt Caroline
Dye or Dyer. Around 1937 an ex–slave from Alabama, related the following
part–narrative: "I know that some -people can tell things that are going
to happen. Old man Julks lived at Pumpkin Bend. He had a colt that
disappeared. He went to Aunt Caroline--that's Caroline Dye. She told him
just where the colt was and who had it and how he had to get it
back."(34). The colt was duly returned to old man Julks'. The lady in
question was immortalised in the Blues by the Memphis Jug Band; she also
cropped up on other Blues in the 1930's.
_________________________________________________________________________

II
- "I've Got Your Water(s) On"

The mojo,
the hoodoo hand and various other charms often consisted of, amongst
other things, nail–parings, pubic hair and cuttings from head–hair,
menstrual cloths, and other personal items. If it was true of 'white
magic' of the nineteenth century conjurers in Britain and the U.S., that
"Curative charms are often associated with unpleasant substances such asurine, lice, adders, spittle or stable air,"(35), it was also true
of the 'black magic' of the hoodoo men and witches, of both countries.
It is the first 'unpleasant substance', urine, which
seems to be the most widely used.

In
Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors", Briggs says "It was suggested... that
Malvolio's water should be carried to the Wise Woman, or white witch,
and it was she who generally diagnosed witchcraft"(36). Much later, in
Britain, when sending a person to a penal settlement in Australia, or
elsewhere, was the 'answer' for many crimes; communication with that
person would be a very chancey affair, so in Norfolk they devised a
'life index'. "The condemned man's relatives kept a bottle of his urine
hung up in his old home. While the liquid remained
clear, they knew he was well. If it became cloudy he was ill, and if it
wasted away he was dead, and was duly mourned by the survivors."(37).

Of course
such a Potent charm as this was very popular in the world of
black magic and the occult, with spells and counter-spells. To break a
spell in Lancashire, "...a live cock chicken was stuck full of pins and
burnt alive, after which a cake was made of oatmeal mixed with the
bewitched person's urine. This was marked with the witch's name and
burnt. The effect of this charm was
to bring the witch to the house against her will; she would demand
admittance, which had to be refused, and would either take off the
spell, or would die; in either case the spell would be broken and the
victim saved."(38). Baker gives a variation of this counter-spell which
forms a direct link with the world of the Blues. "The heating of a
bottle of the sufferer's urine, with pubic hair, pins and broken glass,
would cause the tormentor such sympathetic pain asto bring
her to the house to reveal herself and perhaps trade spell for
counter-spell;"(39). Of course in the original spell, the 'tormentor',
otherwise the witch, "...reached her vic­tim by manipulating his hair
cuttings, nail parings or urine,"(40). Some of these ingredients, as
already mentioned, were used in the preparation of mojos, etc. by the
root doctor, the hoodoo man/lady in the Deep South.

The heating
of the person's urine, relates to a phrase that often
features in the Blues: "got your waters on". (see Table A).

Table A

Title

Artist

Date / Location

1.

"I
Got Your Bathwater On"

Butterbeans & Susie

c.6/6/24 New York

2.

"Got
Your Water On"

Baby
Bonnie

24/10/24 Richmond, Ind.

3.

"Papa's Got Your Water On"

Memphis Jug Band

5/6/30 Memphis, Tenn.

4.

"Papa's Got Your Water On"

Leroy Carr

16/1/31 Chicago, Ill.

5.

"She's Got My Water On"

Walter Roland

1/8/34
New York

6.

"Got Your Water On"

The
Two Charlies

10/4/36
New York

One of the
singers, Charlie Jordan, begins "Got Your Water On" with some bad news
for his wayward lover:

"I
met my gal this mornin', long, long ways from home,I met my best gal this mornin', long, long ways from home.Ain't no use you bringin' regrets baby, daddy got your waters on."

Although the Butterbeans and Susie title might seem misplaced (unheard
by me) as an ordinary domestic reference, there would appear to
be more to the re-make "Been Some Changes Made" (see Table B)four years
later, if indeed it is the same
song, as seems likely. This husband-and-wife team were heavily into
vaudeville as well as singing blues and included many humourous items in
their duets/exchanges. The man, who obviously spends a lot of time away
from home, with other women, comes back only to be confronted by his
wife who declares "There've bin some changes made since you bin gone".
Despite the punny reference to the 'waters' superstition, Susie in this
scenario is not kidding, judging by her list of new lovers covering most
aspects and needs of her daily life:

Susie (spoken):

"Get
your soap, I've got your water on."

Butterbeans (spoken):

"Honey, this ain't Saturday night, an' I don't bathe but once a
week."

Susie (spoken):

"Say listen."

--"--(vocal):

"Now
my sweet doctor, he is a wow,
He knows just what I need an' 'ow.
Iceman, now, as good as gold,
He never leaves my icebox cold.
Deacon sneaks in every night,
An' 'e makes me dim the light.
My street-cleaner is my sheik,
He hauls my ashes every week.
Sweet professor--across the way,
Pushed my pianner every day.
Pastor comes round now an' then,
An' he makes me say 'Amen'!
Now my house don't cost a cent,
My sweet landlord pays the rent.
Butcher man he sure is sweet,
He always brings me a-plenty of meat.
Tailor man done bin here twice,
He knows my Size sure he fits me nice.
Instalment man, he called an' said,
He sendin' me a brand new bed.
He said the slats gettin' weak,
An'all the neighbours hear them squeak.
Look in my cellar, bless my soul!
The coalman left me a load of coal."

Refrain:

"'Cause there've bin some changes made since you bin gone."(42).

The wife, in
this situation, would be only too prepared to work a spell on her
wandering husband if he returned. By getting his 'waters on' she could
be sure of his continued absence and a life of relevant luxury! Susie's
lyrics would
have brought a smile to the face of many a black female who heard them.

But, given
that Table A is not exhaustive, this does not paint the true picture of
the popularity of this British superstition in the Blues. There are many
Blues which include variations of the phrase "I've got your waters on"
which might not be apparent in their title. (see Table B).

Table B

Title

Artist

Date / Location

1.

"Kid Man Blues"

Bertha 'Chippie' Hill

9/11/25 Chicago

2.

"Honey You Don't Know My Mind"

Barbecue Bob

15/6/27 New York

3.

"Desert Blues

Martha Copeland

9/6/28 New York

4.

"Been
Some Changes Made"

Butterbeans & Susie

30/6/28 Chicago

5.

"The Way I Do"

Too Tight Henry

C.2/10/30 Chicago

6.

"Tickle Britches"

Macon Ed & Tampa Joe

9/12/10 Atlanta

7.

"No Good Biddie"

Sonny Scott

18/7/33
New York

8.

"I'll Take You To The Cleaners"

Lil Johnson

19/11/36 Chicago

9.

"New Shave 'Em Dry"

Lil Johnson

19/11/36 Chicago

A young
singer, still in her twenty-first year, from South Carolina, describes
how she attempts to get her revenge on her lover or 'kid man'. But a
mere razor is no match for the spell he has put on
her:

"Went down
an' gets his razor, baby, then declared I moaned, Went down an' gets his razor, baby, then declared I moaned.(He said) "That's enough now? mama," he's got them water (sic) on."
(43).

Hill's haunting vocal, complemented perfectly by a youthful Louis
Armstrong, al­ready a supremo, on his cornet. Around eighteen months
later, a 12-string guitarist working in a suburb of Atlanta selling
spare-ribs, 'cooked while-u-wait', addresses his audience with obvious
knowledge of their familiarity with this spell:

The singers
are saying their woman can go and enjoy herself but don't overstep the
mark as they remind her of the spell on her. A guitarist from Alabama,
Sonny Scott, relates how his woman left him with "...a note on my table,
sayin, 'Papa, I got your waters on"(48).While in
1936, Lil Johnson is threatening in both "New Shave 'Em Dry"
and "I'll Take You To The Cleaners". On the latter, she makes it very
clear
that with the spell she has on her man, she's running the show:

"When you wake up every mornin', it's somethin' wrong,
You foolin' with the one got your waters, on."

Refrain:

"I'll take you to the cleaners, you know, I'll slip your knee.
Oh you try to be cute, but that don't work with me."(49).

All the
examples of Blues quoted either contain a theme of an ever-present
threat to the other partner or one of them has left/is about to leave
with the spell hanging over them. The singers come from various regions,
Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, etc. and feature
various styles of Blues; ranging from vaudeville-blues, hokum/good time
blues, through urban offerings to the more 'primitive' rural blues of
artists such as Barbecue Bob and Sonny Scott. One thing is abundantly
clear, that the ancient spell from the British Isles, re­garding another
person's urine, was well-known to Blues singers all over the U.S.A. who
adapted the superstition to their own social environment, widely
recognised in
black society as "I've got your waters on."__________________________________________________________________________